Early Season Big Game Bow Hunting
Staring through the lenses of my Zeiss binos, I wondered when he'd show up. Over 150 does, fawns and lesser bucks had already entered the Wyoming alfalfa field. Twenty minutes before dark, the 160” 6x5 showed himself. He walked out of the same oak draw he went into earlier that morning. That's all I needed to see. The next day I waited for him to disappear in the same draw, on the same trail, as the morning before. It was time to hang a stand.
Early season is by far one of the best times to kill a mature buck. It makes no difference if your hunting Maryland or Montana. Big bucks are patternable and killable. The biggest difference is most western whitetails are more visible and less pressured than their eastern cousins. Therefore, some hunting strategies will also be different.
Long Range Observation
My favorite part of western hunting, is the ability to “glass ’em up." You can't kill, what you can't see and out west you can see far. Use it to your advantage.
High points on ridges, hill tops or even a stack of hay bales, will allow you to cover more topography than if you were standing at ground level. It doesn't take a lot of elevation difference to change your view dramatically.
My favorite thing to do when hunting western whitetails or any other animal for that matter, is to get on one of these points and glass the first hour of the day and the last two hours before nightfall. I always make sure to stay far enough away that my scouting efforts won't affect their movements.
I glass everything that I can see, essentially taking inventory of the bucks that are using the area.
Once I find a buck or bucks that I want to hunt, I will start to fine tune my glassing. I want to see where he's coming from and where he's going, mentally marking specific trees that he walks by.
The next plan of action is figuring out wind direction.
What's the wind doing on his route? Where can I set up to beat his nose but not blow other deer out of the area?
Once I have that figured out, it's a matter of picking an exit and entry route that will keep me from being detected, either by sight or wind. Both are very important. Confident that I can make it in undetected, I will pick a tree to hang a stand in.
Hanging the stand is the simplest part of the whole process. This may be simple but you still need to pay attention to detail. Make sure shooting lanes are trimmed and that you have adequate background cover to breakup your human outline.
Now, it's time to go hunting. If you don't succeed and end up spooking your target animal, start the process over. Don't make it any more complicated than it really is.
Water
All critters need water. Early season ventures in the western half of the country are normally hot and dry. Finding a good water source can put you in the hot seat of deer activity.
The water source may be a creek, man made water hole, spring head or a murky pool of muck that is so nasty, your dog wouldn't jump in it. I've seen deer walk right past a cold running mountain stream, to only go a couple hundred yards further down the trail and drink from one of those nasty smelling muck holes. I have no answer for why they do this but I've seen it happen on numerous occasions. Moral of the story? Don't rule a water source out until you can prove that they're watering elsewhere.
Hunting water sources has been a very hit or miss tactic for me. Some years, deer will hammer them till October. Other years, I can hardly find a track near the only water source around. There has been no rhyme nor reason to it that I can tell. But, it's a tactic I recommend be in your repertoire of tricks for early season hunts.
Alfalfa
One of the greatest early season food sources out west is alfalfa. As stated above, long range glassing is a good way to figure out what's feeding in the dark green, protein rich feed. When long range glassing isn't an option, you may want to take a quick walk or drive around the perimeter of the field, looking for trails and any sign of deer feeding around the edges. Of course, having trail cameras set up a couple weeks prior to hunting could give you the information you need to be successful.
Montana still does not allow the use of trail cameras. I don't get it either.
When hunting alfalfa fields out west, driving to and from your stand is usually better than walking to it. These deer are accustomed to vehicles, side by sides and tractors. Take advantage of this and you will not burn your spot so fast.
Rattling
I have rattled in more bucks in the month of September than in October and November combined. I really hate putting that out there because rattling gets used way too often as it is. And at the wrong times. But the truth is what it is and rattling will get mature bucks killed in September.
I don't “blind rattle” in September. I like to see a couple bucks sparring within a couple hundred yards of my stand before I tickle the horns together. It has worked best for me on unseasonably cool mornings as the bucks are heading back to bed. I believe the cool weather gets them a little amped up. They “hear” two other bucks fighting and want to strut their stuff, so on in they come. It has worked almost 75% of the time for me in this situation. Do not rattle at a couple bucks if you do not intend to kill one of them. No need to educate just for the sake of doing so.
Conclusion
Not too many years ago, whitetails out west were looked at more as a varmint than a big game animal. Not so today. Good whitetail ground gets leased up just as fast as good elk country.
The positive side to things is that there's still ground to hunt on during early season with a bow. A lot of people still overlook the early season.
Why?
The rut is in November and many other people reserve September for elk hunting. Not a bad deal if you are a whitetail addict looking to expand your hunting opportunities.
Give yourself a good ten days if you are a traveling bow hunter new to these areas. It will take time to figure this country out and get yourself use to the vastness of the west. If you don't have the time or are a little apprehensive, go guided. There are many good outfitters listed on Guidefitter that specialize in early season whitetail hunts.
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